Colombian police confiscated six tonnes (945 stone) of pure cocaine, the third largest amount to have been seized from drug trafficking gangs in the history of the country, officials confirmed on Sunday (April 2).

Colombian Minister of Defence, Luis Carlos Villegas, said the drugs had been seized in the northern city of Barranquilla on Friday, when they had been packaged by the Gulf Clan for shipment to Spain.

Villegas added that the value of the drugs, which had been hidden supposedly as scrap metal, would have amounted to over 200 million euros (213 million dollars).